Seven grants were awarded to organizations that provide programs to improve health care outcomes. Organizations such as Familylinks, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Mission Vision, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, and SIDS of PA work to address issues such as food security and improving nutrition, providing quality health care services to underserved residents, improving health and wellness, and educating residents about SIDS and its causes.

Seven grants were given to organizations providing a strategy for the development and improvement of neighborhoods. Organizations such as the Brashear Association, NeighborWorks, and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy offer programs to support low-income and high-risk residents, prevent foreclosures, and improve local parks and nature areas in South Pittsburgh.

In particular, the Brashear Association provides numerous programs for residents to achieve self-sufficiency, provides holiday assistance to families, operates the Neighborhood Employment Center, serves as fiscal conduit for the Minority Emergency Preparedness Task Force and the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace, and houses Senior Centers in the Hilltop and South Side Flats - they most recently worked to accommodate displaced seniors who utilized the recently closed Market House Senior Center.

For a complete listing of 2010-2011 grants awarded and for more information about the Birmingham Foundation including their grant guidelines, how to apply for a grant, and to view their 2010 biannual report, Summer Fun in the South guide, and other Foundation publications, visit their website at www.birminghamfoundation.org.

Since 1997, the Birmingham Foundation has awarded over $13.2 million in grants to 170 organizations. The foundation has three primary focus areas: Improving youth outcomes, with an emphasis on preventing and intervening in youth violence, quality in-school and after-school programs, youth mentoring, and positive parenting; Improving health care outcomes, includes increasing services in high-risk and underserved communities; and, Strategy for neighborhood development, which involves creating a strategy, implementation, and leveraging interests to develop and improve neighborhoods.